Viiv Falls Flat

smilingman writes "The Washington Post (Retina Scan Required) is reporting that Intel's Viiv media center, which was supposed to revolutionize home entertainment and kill the living-room PC as we know it, fails miserably to deliver in its first incarnation. From the article: 'During a presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, chief executive Paul S. Otellini unveiled Viiv -- a combination of hardware and software that would combine functions of the TV, the DVD player, the VCR and the video game console... In April, Viiv doesn't look much like that vision. On a typical Viiv box, Hewlett-Packard's Pavilion m7360y, it amounts to a smattering of free Web video clips and discounts on online music, movie and game rentals -- plus a nifty rainbow-hued Viiv sticker on the front of the computer.'"

Sounds like the manufacturers fault

[7of7]

This situation reminds me of the problems that Microsoft has with its visions for a cheap Origami device. The ones that are coming out are quite expensive because manufacturers insist on putting Intel chips in them instead of the ones from Via that Microsoft wanted. In this case, it's likely that the manufacturers just aren't designing viiv boxes that live up to Intel's idea of what viiv should be. If Intel wants viiv done right, it's going to have to do viiv itself.

software, not hardware

[gEvil (beta)]

The problem with Viiv is that all the things that they're saying we'll be able to do with them are functions of software, not hardware. Since they're depending on MCE for functionality, it doesn't matter whether you have a Viiv machine, a regular Intel processor, or (god forbid) an AMD one.

Re:This can't possibly surprise anyone

[mboverload]

People seem to forget that all Viiv is is DRM. It it nothing more. Nothing new. Just a new face on an ugly idea.

They already have

[richdun]

All the Intel Mac Mini sitting next to my HDTV needs is access to a high-res store of movies and TV shows through the Front Row interface, and I'll be set. And subscription or a la carte, I really don't care.

The concept of "delivering on the promise..."

[dpbsmith]

...has always been a bit alien to the PC industry.

PC types keep scratching their heads trying to figure out what people like about Apple. It never seems to cross their mind that it's because Apple at least delivers some of what it promises.

The article says: "The worst experience of all came when I tried to view Intel's own showcase of Viiv content. At first, clicking this button yielded a "Windows Media Center Edition required" error. After rebooting the computer to try again, I was presented with a lengthy license agreement and an ActiveX installation dialog. The subsequent download seemed to stall out when the HP-bundled Norton Internet Security firewall warned that "EntriqMediaServer" was a high-risk program that it should always block. Naturally, that was a Viiv component."

I cannot ever imagine that Apple would ever, ever, ever ship a product in a state like that. Words fail me. Did nobody at HP or Intel ever try actually using the product even once? Does anything think they have responsibility for what the user finds when they take the product out of the box?

Failed Generation

[Doc Ruby]

The past few years we've seen several attempts to launch the obvious next steps in personal media: home media PCs and networked console games. The products the big companies like Microsoft, Microsoft, Intel, Microsoft and Sony have launched have all failed to appeal to any but existing enthusiasts. The technology seems ready, but the "operational paradigm", the UI structure, seem uninspired. It's a revolutionary leap that's born as an evolutionary step.

Could these companies, and their risk-averse cultures, just be the wrong worlds from which these new platforms need to be born? Is there a more radical product that's not getting the attention it needs to catch on because it's upstaged by the big failures, in the media and in the market?

Does it really matter?

[guardiangod]

I just watched the former Intel chief architect Bob Colwell's talk on architect [stanford.edu]. In it he raise a very good point-

Don't expect to sell your first generation of platform (or architect). It sucks. You know it, the customers know it. Instead use it as a phototype to get feedbacks from.

Maybe something that sounded like a good idea doesn't work in real life. Maybe something that was left out in the production is essential to the success. You wouldn't know unless you start selling your product.

Concentrate on making your second generation better.

Re:The concept of "delivering on the promise..."

[esmrg]

A buddy of mine asked me to fix an HP pc once. The windows installation was so hosed it would not run in normal mode under any condition. After a bit of snooping around I realized the easiest thing was to reinstall from the restore partition.
Bad idea.
When the restore was complete, I saw exactly what HP ships.
They ship a nightmare box, with crappy conflicting software, spyware like weatherbug, and useless photo managers. No firewalls are configured and they try to force 8 different ISPs at you.
The machine is destined to either frustrate or confuse to hell a new user within a week.

Did nobody at HP or Intel ever try actually using the product even once? Does anything think they have responsibility for what the user finds when they take the product out of the box?

I sincerely doubt it. The marketing department made demands and the system builders tossed in the software packages they asked for without testing them.

Re:Wow

[mapmaker]

Does Intel even know what "Viiv" is supposed to be? It is actually supposed to *be* anything?

Think of Viiv as "Son of Centrino"; it is a brand, a sticker, that an OEM can slap on their boxes if they buy a bundle of components from Intel instead of just the processor. This worked very well with the Centrino campaign, it effectively coerced OEMs to buy an overpriced wireless chipset from Intel to go with every Pentium M they wanted. Otherwise their laptops couldn't be "Centrino" laptops, and Joe Sixpack knows that Centrino laptops are the bestest, cuz it said so on the Tee Vee.

Intel isn't much of a technology company anymore, but they are a very cunning and capable marketing operation.